While developers launch condos into the sky, Waterfront Toronto is going underwater to create new homes — for fish.

Although the agency doesn’t officially call them “fish condos,” preferring the more official term of aquatic habitats, it is creating these new homes to bring different species back to the waterfront.

“The species are coming back and they’re coming back stronger,” said Waterfront Toronto spokesman Andrew Hilton.

“One of the goals is to make sure the water around which we build is clean, healthy and has a robust ecosystem.”

As part of the Aquatic Habitat Toronto group — which formed in 2006 and also includes the Toronto Region Conservation Authority, the federal department of fisheries, and the Ontario ministries of natural resources and environment — the goal is to counter the detrimental impact caused by port expansion and other development.

Waterfront Toronto has used recycled material to build six aquatic habitats across the city — including in 2008 a popular spot for pike spawning under the Spadina WaveDeck.

“If you’ve ever seen a coral reef, with little nooks and crannies and areas where vegetation will grow, it creates the right habitat for fish,” Hilton said. “It’s basically a collection of recycled material, so you have to put a stone and mesh base on the bottom so it stays intact. We put in things like tree stumps, there’s concrete in there.”

Similar installations were created in 2009 at the Rees and Simcoe wavedecks. The agency also built the fish condos at Mimico Waterfront park, Port Union Waterfront Park and Western Beaches Watercourse.

During the construction of the wavedecks in the central waterfront, more than 1,900 square metres of aquatic habitat was created in addition to the 1,700 square metres of new public space. In total, more than 4,000 square metres of “fish condos” have been installed along Toronto’s harbour.

“We looked at where the best places were to build them — as we call them, ‘sweet spots’ — we did more habitat building under the Spadina WaveDeck because there is more marsh area nearby at HTO Park,” Hilton said. “We looked at where fish might want to go and what things are there around that might attract them.”

From 2001 to 2009, the number of fish species caught in the inner harbour increased from five to 17. About 78% of the fish caught in Toronto are emerald shiner, and northern pike are also in abundance.

In 2009, round whitefish, a rare, native species, were caught for the first time by Toronto Region and Conservation Authority (TRCA) in the outer harbour.

“We’re like Mike Holmes of the waterfront — we’re doing it right,” said Gord MacPherson, the senior manager of environment for TRCA. “It’s not fish condos, per se, it’s rocks, shoals and the water’s clear, you can see adult 10- to 15-pound pike swim right by. At Spadina WaveDeck, we get the tiger muskie, which is a cross between a pike and muskie.”

In 2011, the TRCA teamed up with Carleton University and surgically inserted transmitters in 350 fish in the area to track where they were spawning.

“We had a ping ever 10 minutes,” MacPherson said. “No one knew where the fish were in the winter time before that. Now, 24 hours a day, we can tell where these fish are.”

MacPherson said for the past decade, up to $10 million a year was spent on creating fish habitat. Once the construction is complete, they are self-sustaining.

For its part, Waterfront Toronto spent $646,000 on the aquatic habitats for the three wavedecks.

“It’s hard to be criticized when you’re mandated by law and it brings back fish and fish species and creates a healthy ecosystem in a harbour which for the longest time was not in great shape,” said MacPherson. “Nobody wants to live beside a polluted body of water that the ecosystems are failing.”

The Toronto Urban Fishing Ambassadors has noticed an increase of different fish along the waterfront, and is calling for better access for anglers in the future.

“One of the improvements that needs to be made is access to the habitat,” said founding member David Kearney. “It’s all underwater and for the fish, but once those fish return, the anglers should be able to fish them. We need more fishing nodes — perfect little things that extend out into the water and habitats are around them, so we can fish safely away from the general public.”

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As part of efforts to bolster the fish population along the waterfront, more than 4,000 square meters of habitat have been installed along Toronto’s harbour.

Recent monitoring results have shown an increase in the number of fish species caught in the harbour.

The number of fish species caught in the inner harbour increased from five to 17 from 2001 to 2009.

78% of the fish caught in the Toronto harbour are emerald shiner, an important forage fish in the Lake Ontario fish community.

The northern pike population has become more firmly entrenched. A top indigenous predator, the species is important to the aquatic food chain. The species is also popular among anglers.

In 2009, round whitefish (a rare, native fish species) were caught for the first time by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority in the outer harbour area.

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